It's shocking that more corporate travel managers haven't embraced mobile technology and the sharing economy as ways to reduce costs and gain more accurate data on the habits of their clients.
The doldrums of 2016 hotel rate negotiations are up against business travelers becoming more savvy with open booking and hotels flaunting better revenue management tools that give them more leverage over who gets the best rates--and when.
There's a big opportunity for hotel organizations to both learn lessons from guest management as practiced by the new coworking spaces as well as use their own expertise and resources to create connections with a new breed of customer.
More business travelers are growing frustrated with their companies' corporate booking tools and that leads them to go off on their own to book their trips. Corporations hate it but some 42% of business travelers in a survey leave their companies in the dark in terms of where they're staying and which flights they'll be on.
It's no surprise that business travelers want a premium experience while on the road, and it looks like more companies are splurging on pricy flights and hotels.
Be on the lookout for long-time business travel hubs to get even bigger and for the ever-growing hubs like India and Brazil to continuing proving they deserve larger slices of global business travel spending.
These business trips must eventually accomplish something and if foreign businesses aren't willing to spend this good news for U.S. business travelers might be short-lived.